Thinking About Learning

I have been blogging with students for 4 or 5 years. I am convinced that it is one of the best instructional tools that we have.  Sadly, it is also probably one of the most under-used. Several years ago I created a little video, “Top 10 Reasons to Blog with Students,” in an effort to promote student blogging. Now that YouTube is unblocked for teachers in my district, I recently added it there.

What are the most important features of a blog engine? A secure environment with options for monitoring student posts and comments is a must. The ability for students to upload a variety of file types is definitely a plus. Edublogs is a great blog engine, and I have used it for my personal professional blog for years. In today’s financial climate, cost is an inevitable issue, which unfortunately eliminates Edublogs Campus for me.

In the beginning I used Blogmeister with my students, which is David Warlick’s wonderful protected learning community for student blogs. After that first year, we decided we wanted our students to have a few more options for customizing. I’ve used 21 Classes in recent years, which is fairly user-friendly. We did encounter some computers locking up when attempting to save, but we haven’t determined if that’s an issue with our network or on their end. ClassPress is a relatively new blog engine that is currently being tested by another TIS friend, and I’m waiting to hear a report on that one.  In the meantime, I created a comparison chart of features:

I’m still exploring and open to suggestions!

Mrs. Brown, a 4th grade teacher at my school, received a district Mac grant that provided her with a MacBook, 3iPods, an iTalk,  2 MacMinis, and a camera.  She has worked hard to integrate the technology in the midst of all the required elements of a language arts classroom.  Yes, her students spend time each day with a book actually in hand and also write with a pencil.  As a former elementary ELA teacher myself, I think there is great value in “hands on” reading and writing.  But as we work with students who are continuously more engaged with the digital world at home, it is imperative that we develop our classrooms into technology-infused environments.  Students are able to listen and focus better with an iPod than to listen to a teacher in whole group instruction.  I’m not discounting whole group instruction; I’m just saying that we need multiple instructional strategies to meet the needs of diverse learners.  Students who blog have the understanding that they are writing for a real audience, which makes their time spent writing more meaningful and authentic.  Most students spend lots of time playing video games, so instructional reading games on the computer are a natural fit for them.  Mrs. Brown does a great job of creating balance in her classroom and providing a variety of learning experiences for her students!

I regret that I was out of the blogging loop for the last couple of months.  Finishing up the school year, having a son graduating from high school,  and a daughter planning a wedding, I’ve just had a lot on my plate!  Now it’s nice to have some time to relax and reflect.

My first year as a technology integration specialist was wonderful!  I was a little apprehensive about starting in a new school after teaching in my previous school for 14 years, but I was very warmly received.  My teachers were very welcoming to me, and they were receptive to what I had to offer in the realm of technology.  I was impressed that they were so open to trying something new.  One of my greatest impacts this year was with blogging.  In December I started with a couple of fifth grade classes, and by February, over 220 of the students in my school had their own blogs.  Students loved it and would ask me in the halls in the morning, “Are we coming to blog today?”  Teachers loved it as a way for students to reflect on their learning.  It was definitely a win-win scenario!

My other area of positive impact this year was  project-based learning.   Podcasting,  Photo Story, and research using Open Mind were some of the most engaging learning activities.  The last month of school, I had a second grade students who each researched an animal and wrote digital stories about their animals based on the book, Diary of a Worm.  They navigated through our school’s social bookmarking site, Diigo,  to locate information to research, wrote and edited text, located copyright permissible images, created a PowerPoint, converted it to JPEGS, created a Photo Story with it, and narrated it.  These second graders learned and used technology skills that many teachers don’t possess.  I was very impressed with what they accomplished.  It was so much fun to work with them, because every new thing that I showed them received a “WOW” reaction.   They were so motivated and enthusiastic!  I don’t think Disney World would measure much higher on their “WOW” meters.  They were sponges soaking it all in and loving every minute of it.  I can’t wait to see what these kids will accomplish next year as third graders!

In thinking about next year, I want to continue with the blogging and projects.  Some other goals I have are to get my teachers more involved with using Diigo and to focus more on using Web 2.0 tools for assessment.  Another emphasis will be to raise awareness with my teachers about copyright issues related to the Internet, fair use, and Creative Commons.  I also want to be a catalyst for greater collaboration among teachers.

I had a fabulous year! This job change was the right thing at the right time in my life.  I have made new friends and learned so much.  I’m already excited about next year…the journey continues!